7 SMEs receive 5G funding for ‘doing something special’

Seven UK SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) have been selected to receive funding of up to £10,000 to help develop 5G in the UK and to demonstrate the value that smaller, regional companies can bring to the technology.

The SME Technology Partners, chosen by the University of Surrey’s 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC), represent various aspects of 5G technology and its route to the commercial market. They demonstrate a wide range of different applications for the technology’s use. The seven UK companies receiving the funding along with their disciplines are:

Something special

One of the key reasons these companies were selected for the grants was that they were seen to be “doing something special” with 5G, and demonstrating the broad range of benefits that the technology will bring.

The companies will use the money to integrate their products into 5GIC’s 5G testbed.

One of the aims of this initiative is to gather best practices on how SMEs can be better assimilated into the 5G landscape – the 5GIC believes they are crucial to achieving 5G success in the UK. The next phase will look to broaden the scope through bringing more SMEs on board and using their technologies on a wider scale.

Demonstrating value

Professor Rahim Tafazolli, Founder and Director of the 5G Innovation Centre, said he welcomed the new SME Technology Partners and was “delighted at the diversity of ideas”. He said: “The University has received a lot of public funding for the testbed from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and wanted to show good ‘value for money’ not just by delivering the contract in full but finding ways to spread the benefits to SMEs.”

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About the 5G-PPP:

The 5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership (5G PPP) is a joint initiative between the European Commission and European ICT industry (ICT manufacturers, telecommunications operators, service providers, SMEs and researcher Institutions).